Psychotel

On Friday 1st November we visited Psychotel, a scare attraction lasting up until 04:00 in the morning in an actual haunted pub in Chester. Having experienced overnight scare attractions in the past like Alton Towers Scare Rooms and Horror Camp Live, we were excited to see how this new overnight scare experience would compare and to see if things really do go bump in the night at Ye Olde King’s Head.

Upon arriving at the hotel, the venue looked impressive. Being a traditional timber framed black and white building it retains the character of Old Chester. When the time came to check in we were given our disclaimer to sign and then we were shown to our room, which we were told to remain in unless instructed to leave it throughout the night. The room had nice little touches added to it to create atmosphere, including a dress hanging at the end of the bed (which looked like a figure stood at the end of the bed watching us in the dark).

Once settled in the room, we were introduced to different characters including a maid (who’s first appearance made us jump), the Manager, and the hotel chef (who came to check if we had any special dietary requirements for our meal that was to come later into the evening). What then followed was a trend which carried on into the night, where guests of each room were taken out of their room and a scene was played out before we were sent back to our rooms again.

Some of the scenes that we were introduced to included a demented clown, and the psychotic Manager’s daughter, Lottie. Lottie decided she wanted to keep one of us asa play toy for a period of time while the other was sent back to the room alone. Shortly afterwards he returned back covered in make-up following playtime with Lottie. Later into the evening we were invited to the dining room to have dinner with the Manager, and the chef (who had quite a volatile temper) had prepared a meal especially for us, anyone who was expecting fish and chips were sadly mistaken as the menu was far more exotic than that (entomophagy anyone?), and the chef was persistent that his hard work that he had put into preparing these “special” meals would be appreciated and would be eaten!

Later into the night we were given the task of investigating the cellar, and the team had set up a mini-maze downstairs in the bar area which was effective at getting some startle scares in. In between the scenes and tasks that we were given during our stay we were visited by the different characters who entered into our room and caused havoc, at one point the chef came into our room to force feed us some dessert (in the form of chocolate cake) however given what he had prepared for our main meal there was an element of distrust as to what exactly was in that chocolate cake that he was insistent on us eating!

Psychotel definitely saved the best until last with their final scene of the night, which involved us being tied up and our heads covered with hoods as the chef experimented with numerous different tools and equipment that he could use on us to torture us. This was especially frightening due to the fact that we could not see what was happening however we could hear the whirring of a circular saw right next to our ears, thankfully we managed to make our escape (thanks to the help of the maid) before he got a chance to use his chosen equipment (a chainsaw) and make us into his next meal!

Overall we thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and think that the team should be commended as this was their first scare attraction. A few minor issues that we would raise is that we visited in a group that included smokers and as we were not allowed to leave the rooms until the end of the experience, as we got closer to 4am we were all desperate to go out and have a break. Also, we found it a shame that using a venue with so much history that is reportedly haunted by a number of genuine ghosts, that this was not used as part of the storyline.  Instead we had extreme eating challenges, power tools and abuse. Although the evening was scary it really felt like the opportunity to utilize the surroundings and the venue itself was completely wasted.

Also, when creating an overnight scare attraction, it is difficult to keep the scares coming like you would see in a 3-5 minute maze, due to the experience lasting a lot longer so there were periods during the night when we were left in our room with nothing happening. We would have liked to see maybe one or two more actors involved to keep us on our toes while awaiting our next scare. Having spoken to the director of the event after the experience he confirmed that they had added more actors, as well as the inclusion of break times for the next groups to stay with Psychotel.

So did things go bump in the night at Psychotel? Yes they did! Unfortunately we were not visited by any real ghosts during our stay, however the team at Psychotel definitely made up for it with a mixture of startle scare tactics, storytelling, disturbing scenes and mini scare mazes all housed in a creepy building. Pyschotel have confirmed that they are currently looking into new venues and events so that they can welcome more guests throughout the year, and we look forward to seeing what they come up with next

In the meantime if you want to enjoy some of Chester’s haunted history the team behind Psychotel currently run a year round theatrical ghost tour called Chilling Chester. Check their website for further details http://www.chillingchester.co.uk/

You Review

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It was fantastic,some people complained about the gaps.but other people are staying there as well!it's not all about you!

The actors were amazing and stayed in character whatever was thrown at them, well done ollie and Brett and all your team! It was well impressive!

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